Tesla and China – A Marriage Made In Heaven?

Tesla has been making strides creating their supercharger network across the US. Now they have set their sites on China and are planning to break into the Chineese in a big way. China wants to expand EVs in the country and has set a goal for 30% of government vehicles to be electric by 2016 and is giving huge tax breaks to new owners of mostly domestic electric cars. However, they are not making it easy for Tesla.

Read more in the seekingalpha.com article below.

China has about 70,000 electric vehicles (or EVs) on the road. The Chinese government aims to put 5 million electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles on its roads by 2020, to curb pollution and reduce reliance on oil imports. The country has set a target that 30% of government vehicle purchases should be EVs by 2016. In order to achieve this objective, China will fund $16 billion (100 billion Yuan) to build electric charging facilities. The country is also weighing options to impose a new tax on gasoline to fund efforts that will make electric cars more affordable. Last year, China renewed private-buyer subsidies for electric-powered vehicles for another three years. Consumers will get tax rebate up to $5,700 (35,000 Yuan) for the purchase of “near all-electric” plug-in vehicle, and up to $9,778 (60,000 Yuan) for the purchase of an all electric battery car.

Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) has more than 200 charging points, and 13 super charger stations across China. The company has a deal with real estate developer Soho China and China Yantai Holdings to establish charging stations across the country. Recently, Tesla partnered with China Unicom to build charging posts across 400 China Unicom stores in 120 cities, and super charging outlets in 20 cities across China. Under the deal, China Unicom will offer land, and Tesla will supply the equipment for charging stations. Tesla has a big opportunity in China but there are some bigger challenges as well.

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